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Friday, February 10, 2012

Prevention of NCDs through Diet

Among the factors promoting NCDs are
modifiable risk factors of use of tobacco products and alcohol, and
inappropriate diets comprising high sugar intake, saturated fats, low fiber
diets, and high salt intake. Concern for reduction of NCDs has aroused
widespread concern for promoting different types of health diets to safeguard
against those preventable diseases.

According to new rankings released by the U.S. News & World Report the best diet of 2012 is the Dietary Approaches to
Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. Depending upon one’s calorie needs the DASH diet
prescribes the number of daily servings of grains, vegetables, dairy and other
food types.

DASH diet aim at preventing and lowering high
blood pressure. The diet also has good nutritional value. In a competition, it
has received the recognition of the best diet second time.

The second place has been won by the
Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet, which aims to lower cholesterol, and
the third place to the Mayo Clinic diet, which focuses on weight loss.

TLC diet is an
example of a wonderful 'medical' type of diet that has gone mainstream,
according to one nutritionist. Its low sodium requirement means boost to heart
health. It is also reported to be easy to follow as the success of a good diet
is its ability of ease it offers to the user.

The U.S. News
& World Report judged various diets through a completion; a panel of 22
experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease ranked diets. The
experts rated the 25 diets in seven categories: depending upon the ease
required to follow the diet, their ability to produce short-term and long-term
weight loss, nutritional completeness, safety and potential for preventing and
managing diabetes and heart disease.

Diets
for weight loss

According to
rankings, the top three diets for weight loss are the Weight Watchers diet, the
Biggest Loser diet and the Jenny Craig diet. Dieters had the best result with
Weight Watchers for both short and long term weight loss, and it ranked highly
in terms of ease to follow it. The Weight Watchers plan is a diet that people
most often return to. The experts rated the Weight Watchers diet as a 3.7 out
of 5 in the category of easy to follow, whereas the Biggest Loser diet scored a
2.9 in this category, according to the rankings.

The Jenny
Craig diet scored a 3.6, but fared less well than Weight Watchers in terms of
its ability to produce weight loss. Weight Watchers won the category of best
commercial diet plan, as against the Jenny Craig diet, which relied heavily on
packaged meals and came with a high cost, according to the rankings.

However, when
Consumer Reports released its ratings of commercial diet plans in May, Jenny
Craig ranked as the winner. Those raters acknowledged criticisms that the diet
is hard to follow, but cited a two-year study of 332 people showing that 92
percent of participants stuck with the diet. That study was published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010.

Diets for
healthy eating

The DASH and
TLC diets topped the category of best diets for healthy eating, which
emphasized nutritional completeness and safety. The Mediterranean diet ranked third. The data, according to one
expert, show that the DASH diet offers the best overall nutrition, “ it has one
of the highest levels of B-12 and potassium”. Whereas the Weight Watchers plan
is low in those nutrients, and recommended that its followers take a
multivitamin.

The DASH diet
prescribes a number of servings of grains, vegetables, dairy and other food
types that a person should eat daily, based on one’s calorie needs. It suggests
high amounts of fiber, potassium and magnesium, and keeps sweets to a
minimum. The diet caps
salt intake to the recommended daily values—1,500 milligrams for people who are
age 51 or older, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes or chronic
kidney disease; 2,300 milligrams for everyone else.

The DASH diet also
won in the category of best diabetes diets, while the Ornish diet, which groups foods from most healthful (fresh
fruits and vegetables, vegetarian protein sources) to least healthful (cakes,
cookies, bacon, sausage), ranked first in best heart-healthy diets.which
focuses on low fat intake and emphasizes exercise and stress management, won
for best heart-healthy diet. One panel has decided the best diet of 2012 is the
DASH diet, which emphasizes consuming lean protein, fruits and vegetables.